Madeleine McCann disappeared more than a decade ago while her family was on holiday in Portugal

Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann have never given up hope their daughter, who disappeared in May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal aged three, is still alive.

They were dealt a blow in September when funding for the investigation - dubbed Operation Grange - ran out - causing the police to apply for more money.

But the Home Office confirmed today they were were maintaining an "ongoing dialogue with the MPS".

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today: "They are very encouraged that the Met Police still believe there is work left to be done in the search for their daughter and they remain incredibly grateful to the Home Office for providing an extra budget for the investigation.

Maddie would now be a teenager and this computer generated image suggests what she might have looked life

Madeleine McCann parents' spokesman reveals 'only two or three people on the planet really know what happened to Maddie'

Maddie was three when she disappeared from a holiday apartment in the Algarve region of Portugal while her parents dined with friends nearby.

She disappeared on the evening of May 3 from her bed in a holiday apartment in Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, Praia da Luz, where she had been sleeping with her brother and sister.

She would have turned 15 on on May 12, 2018.

A number of potential leads have emerged since the little girl vanished, but none amounted to anything and no arrests have ever been made.

In 2010, Maddie’s distraught parents met with then-home secretary Theresa May to talk about the hunt for their daughter.

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The following year, Scotland Yard launched its own review, named Operation Grange, into the case at the behest of the future PM.

They were granted additional funding of £150,000 in March which was set to last until September.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: “We have confirmed that Special Grant funding of £150,000 will be provided to the Metropolitan Police Service for the six-month period to 31 March 2019. This is an ongoing police investigation.”